Category Archives: Editorial

I like cars, and for me, the Speedback GT is one of the single most beautiful cars that I have ever seen.

A 5.0-litre V8 (500BHP), the sixties inspired Speedback is something that I could see James Bond driving; but I doubt he would have the chance. At half a million pound (~$900,000AUD), and with only 100 being made, it’s not something that the average person will probably get to see in person, let alone drive or own; which is a shame, because it’s absolutely stunning.

This isn’t a racing car. It has a top speed of 250k/h, and does 0-100km in a respectable 4.8 seconds, but it’s not for the track. This is the car you take on your leisurely afternoon drive along the British countryside, probably on your way to and from your summer estate.

Even if I could afford it however, and assuming one was available for me, I wouldn’t buy it. It’s beautiful, but for that price, I could buy an Aston Martin DB9 (or two), or a house; I’m just too practical to spend a not so small fortune on something just because it’s beautiful. Still, I wish I could drive it once, or twice.

“Style is very personal. It has nothing to do with fashion. Fashion is over quickly. Style is forever.” – Ralph Lauren

There is no one else on the planet who has the same style as you; they may be similar, you may have the same taste in clothing, and you may have the same style icons, but what you do with all that is completely unique.

You could walk in to a store and buy the latest outfit straight off of the runway, and be fashionable, but being stylish means making that outfit your own; in means being comfortable and confident in your sense of self, it means knowing who you are, and having your clothes reflect that.

“…You can have no money and have great style. You can have a lot of money and have great style. More often, you have a lot of money and you have terrible style; and you just plaster yourself in what you think you are supposed to be wearing and you’ve lost yourself. I actually hate to see my designs worn head to toe the way I show them on a runway… Style, for me, is someone who figures out who they are, what works on them, what they feel good in, and develops that, develops their character, and the outer expression of their character is what is style…”– Tom Ford

A while back I was taking up the sleeves on a new jacket, and thought to myself “maybe I could put one of my pay pass tags in the sleeve of this jacket; wouldn’t that be cool?”. I decided that I couldn’t be bothered, but it still thought it was a neat idea; to be able to pay for something with just a swipe of your cuff, you would never be without money in an emergency again (assuming you don’t lose your jacket). A curious google search that night revealed that I wasn’t the first to have the idea, but only one company had actually put it into practice: MJ Bale. I don’t usually have much to say about the Australian menswear industry, but it makes me glad to see an Aussie company at the forefront of such innovative technology.

Certainly, being able to pay for things with your suit jacket is a bit of a novelty, with new mobile phones already having the ability anyway, and it is just one more thing that can be stolen (though that can be helped by simply not taking off your jacket), but the idea of combining technology and style (my two greatest passions) in a functional and useful way is certainly something that I approve of. Also, it would look pretty cool, paying for something with wave of your arm.

I hear a lot of excuses from men on why they don’t want to dress better, and while some of them do have legitimate problems, most of them are just that: Excuses. Here is my rant on the top five that I have heard and why I think they are completely ridiculous.

1. I can’t afford it.

Really? I find that kind of hard to believe; especially if you are the sort of person who considers that $5 cup of coffee every morning a basic necessity. The first T.M. Lewin shirt that I ever bought was a plain white cotton with a spread collar and French cuffs, and it fit me perfectly; it was my favourite shirt and I used it until it literally started to fall apart at the seams. It cost me $4 at a Salvation Army store. I bought my favorite pair of jeans for $20 from the clearance rack at Target. Dressing well is not reliant on spending hundreds of dollars for a single shirt, and when you tell me that you don’t want to dress better because it’s too expensive, all I hear is “I don’t want to put in the effort to look for good, budget, clothing”.

2. It is too difficult to get dressed/I just want something that is easy to wear.

The other day I had a random urge to leave the house and do some shopping; but I didn’t want to do it in my casual relaxing clothes (jeans and polo), so I had to get changed. My typical going out attire consists of trousers, a dress shirt, a jacket, typically my brown oxfords, and a pocket square. From the moment I started to get changed to the moment I was out the front door, less than 5 minutes had passed. In the grand scheme of things, the time it took me was negligible, and the benefits of looking good far outweighed the time it took. So long as you are prepared, being well dressed takes insignificantly more time than being poorly dressed, and the benefits are exponentially greater. Complaining that you don’t have the time to dress well tells me that you either have horrible time management skills, or you are just incredibly lazy.

3. Who cares how I dress?

Your parents? Your girlfriend/boyfriend? Your boss? Your co-workers? How about the woman at the other end of the bar that you have been subtly glancing at for the last 20 minutes trying to work up the courage to go and talk to? The client you are trying to convince? The person interviewing you for a job? What about the person you are trying to convince to give you a small business loan?

You say that you don’t care about what other people think of you? That’s fine, but don’t be surprised when you find yourself being passed over for your better dressed contemporaries.

4. Nobody else does

Does the name George Clooney ring a bell? How about Ryan Gosling? Justin Timberlake? Daniel Craig? What about Sean Combs a.k.a P.Diddy? Do any of these names sound familiar? They should, because is addition to being rich, famous, and really really really ridiculously good-looking, they are also incredibly stylish dressers.

So what you are really saying is that nobody that you know dresses well; and all the better for you, because it will put you ahead of the pack.

5. It’s just not who I am

You’re not the sort of person who respects himself? You’re not the sort of person who respects his family? His coworkers? His boss? Every time you leave the house you are representing not just yourself, but your parents, your children, your spouse, your coworkers, your business, and anyone or anything else associated with you. Saying that dressing well is just not a part of who you are is like saying that you are happy striving towards mediocrity; it’s like saying that you don’t give want to people to respect you; it’s saying that you don’t have pride in yourself. So, if you’re the sort of person who is happy being completely average and not well-respected, them maybe dressing well isn’t for you; but if you are the sort of person who takes pride in themselves and their appearance, the kind of person who, every day, strives to be better than they were the day before, then you are the sort of person who most definitely should be dressing well.